graduate student life

Networking event connects graduate students with Arlington’s Movers and Shakers

Colleen Rich — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 16:49:09 +0000

Networking event connects graduate students with Arlington’s Movers and Shakers Colleen Rich Fri, 10/21/2022 - 12:49

��’s proximity to the nation’s capital attracts many students interested in engaging with political and civic leaders. Recently, graduate students at Mason Square (formerly Arlington ��) attended Movers and Shakers, a professional networking event with Arlington’s business, government, and community leaders.

Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

Ziad Al Achkar and Emily Crawford were among this year’s student attendees. Al Achkar, a doctoral candidate in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, attended the first Movers and Shakers event when in launched in October 2019 and was excited about its return from its pandemic hiatus. His research interest focuses on using technology and the digitalization of humanitarian aid.

“I spoke with a few people working with consulting companies in the D.C. area whose work matches up with my career aspirations,” Al Achkar said. “Movers and Shakers reinforced the importance of having clear ideas about your career aspirations and being able to articulate them quickly when meeting new people and potential employers.”

Crawford is pursuing a master’s in public policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government with an emphasis on higher education policy. She advocates for college affordability and accessibility and aspires to collaborate with leaders in the White House, Congress, and the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of students.

Connecting with changemakers with an impact on Arlington and the nation appealed to her. Movers and Shakers provided the opportunity to engage leaders and allowed Crawford to share her impact in the Arlington community as the Graduate and Professional Student Association’s vice president of Arlington.

“It was incredible to connect with leaders from the State Department, local nonprofits making a significant difference in our community, and fellow students,” Crawford said. “We are all working together to make meaningful change happen to make Arlington, Virginia, and the country a better place to live.”

Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

“Movers and Shakers is a wonderful opportunity to build strong connections between Arlington leaders and Mason as we undergo our expansion,” said Toni Andrews, senior associate director, Community and Local Government Relations for Mason Square. “It builds awareness about current programs at Mason Square and those coming to Fuse at Mason such as the College of Engineering and Computing.”

John Daniels, BA Government and International Politics ’17, MPA ’19, was among Arlington’s leaders who networked with student attendees. Daniels is the chief of staff to 48th District Delegate Rip Sullivan, serving as political and policy advisor, legislative assistant, scheduler, manager for constituent services, and financial manager for the delegate’s political activities.

The opportunity to connect with and mentor students drew Daniels to the event, whose Patriot Pride was evident in his enthusiasm. He encouraged students to not worry about having their lives completely mapped out post-graduation. For students interested in a career path similar to his own, Daniels advises maintaining relationships with fellow alumni and faculty, getting involved in local politics or taking on an internship on Capitol Hill or the General Assembly.

Other Arlington leaders participating in the event included Dulce Carrillo, supervisor of public engagement, Arlington Public Schools; Liz Nohra, senior director, strategic partnerships, PathForward; Anh Phan, outreach representative for Senator Mark Warner’s office; Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz; and Julius “JD” Spain Sr., community and civil rights leader, president, NAACP Arlington Branch.

Several students won a one-on-one networking lunch with Arlington leaders thanks to a drawing held at Movers and Shakers.

Topics

graduate student life

Graduate Education

Mason Lobbies promotes students as ‘part of a bigger picture’

Colleen Rich — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 17:10:21 +0000

Mason Lobbies promotes students as ‘part of a bigger picture’ Colleen Rich Wed, 01/26/2022 - 12:10

Dozens of �� students are gearing up for the 10th annual Mason Lobbies on Thursday, Feb. 3, when they will meet virtually and discuss legislative issues important to Mason with lawmakers from across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mason Lobbies recognizes that students are “part of a bigger picture, and it sheds important light on student challenges,” said Steven Zhou, president of Mason’s Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA) and a PhD student in Mason’s Industrial-Organizational Psychology program.

Previously, Mason Lobbies was primarily led by Mason’s undergraduate students in Student Government. This year, however, Student Government collaborated with GAPSA to include graduate students in the event.

Getting more graduate students in front of legislators is important in emphasizing Mason’s great research and advocating for aspects specific to graduate student life, including funding for research and teaching, Zhou said.

Other topics of discussion will include increasing financial aid and increasing faculty and staff compensation, said Sara Heming, associate director of student organizations in Mason’s Office of Student Involvement.

The event will take place virtually to allow attendees and state legislators to interact safely. Instead of being broken into groups, attendees will meet with legislators and speakers all together through Zoom, though Heming said final details are still to be worked out.

“For students, it is an opportunity to share their Mason story and what they are passionate about. For legislators, it is to listen and learn where they can be helpful,” Heming said, adding that involvement in this event has also led some students to career opportunities and a professional network.

While training, facilitated by members of Student Government working with Mason’s State Government Relations team, is required for all attendees before the event as guidance about discussion topics, attendees are free to share anything about their experiences as members of the Mason community, Zhou said.

“Especially from a graduate student perspective, the reputation of the university is quite important,” particularly for future career opportunities, Zhou said.

Mason’s celebration of its upcoming 50th anniversary in April will also be highlighted.

“Having the state legislators recognize the institution and all its progress and success in its tenure is important,” Heming said. “Mason is a special place affording many people a great education, and that’s something to be proud of.”

The deadline to participate in Mason Lobbies or promote specific lobbying initiatives to Student Government is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni until Jan. 27. Use this form to apply.

“It’s really cool to see students making an impact in state-level decisions that could directly impact the entire university,” Zhou said.

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Students

Mason Lobbies

graduate student life

student government

How to Read Like a Graduate Student

Nikita Thadani — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 19:06:20 +0000

How to Read Like a Graduate Student Nikita Thadani Tue, 01/25/2022 - 14:06

by Katrina Dunlap

If you are in graduate school — whether part-time or full-time — chances are you are inundated with multiple reading assignments. From reading dissertations to textbooks, these assignments can be time-wasted without a having a strategic approach to pull something useful out of it. While there are lots of acronym-driven reading techniques, like “SQ3R” or “Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review,” which aim to help you build a framework to understand your reading assignment, I personally believe that these techniques take too much time to understand and are cumbersome. Below, I’ve outlined some helpful tips for you to consider with respect to your graduate-level reading assignments.

Skim it! The longer the readings are, the more likely the paragraphs in those readings are going to be “filler” which include background and tangential details. Often you don’t really need to read these paragraphs in depth to get the information you need for your classes. So by skimming each paragraph very quickly, you then get a feel for the reading and figure out which paragraphs hold the most pertinent information.

Read backwards. Knowing how the story will end will help your comprehension of what you are reading. If you want to figure out what a certain chapter is all about, you can first go to the back of the text and review the summary, vocabulary lists, chapter questions. Additionally, look for a “review” section if it is a standard textbook to get a feel for what the actual chapter wants you to learn. When you go through the chapter, you’ll be able to identify the vocabulary or a graphic that was referenced in the review section.

Think of questions. By coming up with questions while you read, you deepen your comprehension and understanding. When you are going through the chapter, if you are skimming and something comes up that you don’t really know about, then write it down as a question. Additionally, use headings and sub-headings in the chapter as potential questions. So if there’s a sub-heading that talks about a specific concept, re-word the sub-heading as a question, write it down, and when you go through the actual content of that section, answer the question for yourself.

Pay attention to text format. Take a glance at bold and italicized text because these are almost certainly going to appear on the exam or discussed during class. Pay attention to things that stand out, and write those down.

Highlight or take notes. Never read anything without a highlighter and pencil nearby. Note taking while reading is critical to comprehension and recollection. Using flags are helpful in marking up texts in a non-damaging way. Recording your notes in a central hub such as Evernote, Zotero, or Microsoft’s OneNote software, allows you to reinforce what you’ve read and catalog your notes for future use.

In conclusion, no matter which method or technique you use, you have to figure out what works best for you. If you find yourself struggling to complete your assignments, it may be time to re-evaluate your approach and try something new. Mason’s Learning Services offers additional resources to aid graduate students with reading strategies, including workshops, academic coaching, and online videos. Visit the Learning Services website for more information.

The proceeding blog has been edited and updated to showcase the most current information about Mason’s resources for graduate and professional students. Changes and edits were made by the editor. Edited on 10/13/2020 and 1/25/2022.

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Mason Grad Insider

graduate student life